Nathan Young
Nathan Young (born March 15th, 1989) was a member of the ASBO five gang who had the power of Immortality and Mediumship, and later Magic. Characterization Nathan is outspoken, rude, mischievous and morally flexible, and has a habit of verbally abusing everyone around him - even people that he cares for. He is self-absorbed, selfish, impulsive and incapable of taking anything short of a direct attempt on his life seriously. Even when in the most ludicrous and dangerous situations, he'll take time out to make a wisecrack. Naturally, Nathan's abrasive personality means that he's often the subject of others' ridicule and abuse. However, he almost completely lacks the capacity to feel embarrassment, shame or emotional pain from such attacks and will quite happily shrug them off. It's suggested several times by various characters that his personality flaws might be the result of some kind of mental illness, and its roots probably lie in the fact that he grew up as a single child with an emotionally distant father who left him with his mother when he was a child. Certainly, he jealously guards his mum, going so far as to falsely claim that her boyfriends have sexually abused him - as mentioned in Episode Two. Despite all of these traits, Nathan is not an inherently bad person. After realising how happy his mother's new boyfriend, Jeremy, made her he called a truce with him; and made an effort to reconnect with his father. Also - possibly as a result of his father's poor parenting. Powers Immortality Like the rest of the misfits, Nathan's power reflects an aspect of his personality: his apparent imperviousness to hurtful comments manifests in immortality - he literally cannot die by any means, including physical trauma, starvation, dehydration, or suffocation, he also no longer ages or gets sick. He can even come back from having his brains blown out (and even decapitation or incineration). However, his healing ability only works after he's died. As such, in S2E6, Brian wraps mozzarella around his central cortex with the cheese that Nathan had eaten on his pizza earlier that day, making Nathan remain in a paralyzed "vegetable" like state. While the rest of the Misfits discover their powers on the day after the storm, Nathan's doesn't surface until he is killed after falling from a rooftop and being impaled. He regains consciousness after his funeral, only to find that he is trapped inside his coffin underground, with just his iPod that Kelly had placed next to him at his funeral. His power is hinted at in Episode Four though. In this episode, Curtis accidentally creates an alternate timeline in which Tony murdered the misfits - except for Nathan who was 'half dead' when paramedics found him. The fact that his wounds are not fully healed suggests that he didn't die completely (and thus begin the regenerative process) before he was rescued. Nathan's resurrection didn't go down well with his family - his mother fainted (and, if Nathan is to be believed, hurt her face badly) after he arrived at her door unannounced; and his father was furious after Nathan claimed that his death had just been an insurance scam. Magic Nathan sold his immortality to Seth in Episode 7 and bought a new power - Magic. This allowed him to create objects out of thin air, teleport or transform small objects, even allowing him to pull a live rabbit out of his rear. With his new powers, he stays in Vegas with Marnie and becomes a magician. Immortality.png|Nathan's original power of Immortality Dead brother.jpg|Nathan's power of Immortality extended to Mediumship TklK60iUX2bXXzn6pM40c.jpg|Nathan's current power of Reality Warping Biography Nathan was born on March 15th 1989 (as seen in his memorial-video made by Simon) and grew up in Ireland, largely raised by his mother Louise as his father Mike was very distant. He was raised as a Catholic though was as he claimed apparently among child-molesting priests . It seems that Mike also got another woman pregnant at around this time, leading to the birth of Nathan's half-brother Jamie, although Mike chose to stay with Louise and Nathan rather than Jamie and his mother. Eventually, however, Mike left them as well and remained a shadowy figure in his son's life - even leaving Nathan by himself for three hours after 'treating' him to a birthday visit to Ikea. Nathan was looked after by a paedophile but found before he could be hurt; his father subsequently forgot all about this awful mistake. According to Nathan, he had his first sexual experience with one of his mother's friends during a camping trip. Prior to the series starting, Nathan had some trouble at home when his mother began a serious relationship with Jeremy. Nathan made it his mission to badger, cajole, bully and aggravate Jeremy to the point that his mother eventually threw him out of the house, choosing her boyfriend over her own son. Also, while out with some friends (who, it is implied, don't particularly like him much), Nathan stole some pick 'n' mix sweets and soft drinks from a bowling alley. He subsequently aggravated the manager to the point that the police were called; this is the reason he is doing community service at the start of the series. For the first two seasons Nathan lives inside the Community Centre , initially as a result of his mother throwing him out of the house, but later of his own volition - after making peace with Jeremy he decides that his mother will only be able to have a proper relationship if he stays away from the house. Despite this, his status as 'a homeless' worries him considerably. Despite his strong dislike for Mike, his father (a flashback in Episode Four reveals that Nathan elected to do community service rather than have his father pay for the damage he'd caused), Nathan appears to regret having such a troubled relationship with him. In Episode 2 he tries to get his brother, Jamie, to reconcile with their father as a way of making up for his own emotional failures. After Jamie's accidental death, however, Nathan manages a partial reconciliation with Mike. In Episode 7 Nathan meets Marnie, a single mother with a similarly flippant attitude. The two strike up a sexual relationship but Nathan quickly becomes more and more enthused about the idea of being a father to her child (she has no idea who the biological father is). He and the other Misfits eventually help her give birth. Afterwards, in a scene reminiscent of the Nativity of Jesus, Nathan leads the group in singing 'Little Donkey' to the baby before placing him in a manger. The moment is slightly ruined, however, when he mistakes the afterbirth for an 'alien baby' and, in a panic, stamps on it. Later on Nathan takes Marnie and her new born baby (Nathan Jr) to Las Vegas. He is arrested after trying to scam a casino, and is forced to stay in Vegas. (Vegas Baby!) Relationship with the Misfits Kelly Nathan's relationship with the other misfits is initially purely antagonistic, through a mutual attraction between him and Kelly lead to a brief romantic fling which she calls off as she sees him as more of a cousin than a boyfriend and tells Nathan that she just wants to be mates. Nevertheless he clearly continues to feel something for her, as he tries to protect her when her relationship with Bruno goes bad and attempts to avenge her death in an alternate timeline. Simon Nathan's relationship with Simon also improves as the series progresses. Having identified him as the outcast, Nathan initially bullies him relentlessly, referring to him as 'weird kid' and similar names. However, the two grow closer in the second season, as Nathan reveals a somewhat merciful side to his personality; after Simon finally stands up for himself, recounting all of the hurtful remarks which Nathan has aimed at him and concluding that in spite of it all he "just wants to be friends", Nathan seems to acquire a measure of respect for him. After this encounter Nathan begins looking out for Simon in his own way (such as suggesting hiring him a prostitute to "get his confidence up") and Simon in return begins laughing more freely at his jokes and even attempting (though often failing) to replicate them. Nathan also seems to have developed an odd friendship with him, as he admits to Alisha that he likes Simon, attempts to protect him from Jessica, and enthusiastically congratulates Simon for losing his virginity. Three months later, after Simon has gained more confidence, Nathan comments jokingly that he preferred him when he "suffered from a crippling shyness". Alisha Nathan's relationship with Alisha is a changing one. In many cases Nathan has made Alisha laugh and in most cases they work well together. Alisha however denies being his friend on multiple cases. When Nathan died (at that point he and the others didn't know he was immortal) Alisha seems to be the least affected Curtis Curtis seems to dislike Nathan and often calls him a prick. Nathan likes winding Curtis up about his misfortune of getting caught and his career being in tatters. Despite this Curtis seemed honestly sad about Nathan's death and sometimes gets along with him. Rudy Nathan's relationship with Rudy is not known as he has never seen or spoken to him in person but has talked to him over Simon's phone once when Simon wasn't around. He referred to Simon as Barry so Rudy didn't recognize the name and hung up on him when Nathan called him from jail in Las Vagas. Rudy didn't seem to really care that Nathan sounded like he was in trouble, and hung up almost immediately. Appearance Nathan's outfits consist of a caual range of clothes each dark in colour. One notable piece of clothing is his black Harrington Jacket, worn over several white t-shirts with different patterns on. He usually wears skinny jeans, (black or denim) and wears simple burgandy, teal or grey t-shirts. He wears black converses as shoes and wears a metal necklace around his neck. Nathan has several tattoos, a simple black star outline on his wrist, several stars of the similar style on his hip, and a crest pattern of some sort under his arm. Casting and character creation Casting for the part was announced on 17 August 2009 by Digital Spy. Fellow cast member Iwan Rheon revealed that Overman who created the character discussed how to write their parts with the cast and later began writing for them as actors. Misfit's executive producer Petra Fried announced Robert Sheehan's decision to leave at the Kapow convention in London on 10 April 2011 and his departure will be dealt with in an online spinoff due to air on 15 September. The spinoff was called Vegas Baby! and saw Nathan depart. On his decision to leave Sheehan said "It's nice that the show's successful but it doesn't mean complete blind and unadmonished loyalty - 'If something is very successful you should stick to it like a barnacle!' That's definitely not my thinking. I think I've made the right decision, yeah". On a possible return Sheehan said "There's no point in saying never. It holds a very fond little place in my heart. No, it's been a great big part of my life and there's no point in turning your back on something completely. I'm not doing that, I would never say never". Reception Sheehan was nominated for a BAFTA for his portrayal of Nathan but lost out to Martin Freeman who stars in Sherlock. Sheehan was nominated for Outstanding Actor in the fiction category at the Monte-Carlo Television Festival in 2011. The Herald described him as a "curly haired Irish smart alec called Nathan (Robert Sheehan), to whom writer Howard Overman has given all the best lines". The Guardian also commented that "So far his only power seems to be the gift of incessant back-chat. Played by Robert Sheehan, he's the breakout star of the show". Boxcutters commented negatively on the characters of Misfits saying it was "filled with unattractive and very annoying characters" although they responded positively to the show asking "why do we find it so strangely compelling?" The Times commented that "Despite his fervent hopes, the cheeky, tousle-haired Irish boy cannot fly; indeed we do not know what his superpower is yet". The Daily Telegraph describes him as "Motormouth Nathan was the pivot here, prodding, challenging and provoking the others into revealing themselves". The Independent responded to the character saying he was "clearly the most quotable of the quintet" and after Nathan decides to join the circus so he can be repeatedly killed they added "Quite right: who'd really get all superhero-ish just because they've got some powers?" The Metro described him as a "cult hero". MSN News described Nathan saying he was "undoubtedly the star of the show". The Guardian described Sheehan as the "leading light of E4's Asbo superheroes drama", describing him as a "cocky motormouth" before questioning "Can Misfits survive without Nathan?" After the character's exit was confirmed, Digital Spy commented that he was "much-loved". Keith Watson of the Metro commented positively on his exit saying "rather than dismiss this key character with a couple of lines of mumbled dialogue, his farewell is deftly handled in an online mini-drama all of his own" saying his time on the show was spent "bemoaning being short-changed in the superpower department – finally cashes in the chips on his shoulder" before adding "he’s going to leave a Misfits-shaped hole in my heart". Neela Debnath of the Independent spoke of Sheehan's departure upon the beginning of the third series saying the absence of Nathan, who she described as "universally popular and well-liked", was the "starkest" difference in the series. Debnath expressed that although for a large number of people Nathan was "the most entertaining character on the show" because of his "schoolboy humour and penchant for annoying everyone but the audience" his departure did not detract from the quality of the show. The Guardian branded Nathan their "favourite cocky yet lovable and immortal character" but after Rudy's entrance questioned "As for that void after Nathan left? Well… Nathan who?" Trivia *Nathan's date of birth was confirmed on the video Simon made for Kelly in Episode 6 (Series 1). The full video can be found on the article Online Films. *Nathan's original power reflects how he thinks he is the best and everyone else's insults seem to bounce right off him, making him almost 'invincible' to their comments. It also reflects his "I'm going to live forever" attitude. *Out of the three original main males, Nathan is the only one to never have been affected by Alisha's original power. Other Notes *Due to Nathan's power of reality warping being shown to hold all sorts of possibliltes, it is likely that he might have been able to use his power to escape from prison. External Links * http://www.e4.com/misfits/characters/nathan.html Series 3 Profile on the official E4 Misfits site * http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Misfits_characters#Nathan_Young Wikipedia information * http://twitter.com/#!/nathanmisfits Nathan's Twitter profile Category:Characters Category:Main Characters Category:Community Service Workers Category:Power Buyers Category:Arc Characters